Surrey County Council Countryside Estate Woodland Strategy 2015
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Annex 3
Surrey County Council Countryside Estate
Woodland Strategy 2015
Page 115
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1. Introduction
There is a consensus among the Forestry Commission, Natural England and conservation Non-Government
Organisations that a resumption of active management is needed to reverse a measurable decline in UK
woodland biodiversity. Furthermore active management of woodlands can improve their value for access while
providing a source of income from timber and produce sales to support ongoing stewardship of woodland sites.
The overall objective of this strategy is to ensure responsible stewardship of woodlands on the SCC Countryside
Estate. It builds on the Surrey Woodland Study (Surrey County Council 2008) and is reinforced by the themes
being taken forward by the SCREF Woodland Task Group.
The result will see a contribution economically to the rural economy whilst providing excellent biodiverse habitat
and places for people to recreate and work.
These outcomes will be brought about by having co-ordinated planning across the Woodland Estate supported
by the outcomes of the individual site management plans.
2. Strategic and Policy Context
A component of SWT’s Business Plan for the SCC Countryside Estate 2014 is to improve sustainable management
of the Woodland Estate; increasing revenue from timber products and wood fuel.
Performance is measured through a Key Performance indicator (KPI). The development of an improved set of
KPIs will help drive the positive desired outcomes within the Strategy. See Annex 1 for breakdown of KPI’s.
The Sustainable Woodland Management policy developed in 2014 is summarised by the following policy
statement:
Surrey Wildlife Trust manages its woodlands to maximise biodiversity and promote public access and
enjoyment. In addition, SWT seeks to optimise economic returns from active woodland management where
this does not compromise biodiversity and access objectives.
The development of the policy is a component of SWT’s Strategic Plan 2013 – 2018, is supported by the Forestry
Commission* and underpinned by the requirements and guidelines outlined in the UK Forestry Standard (2011).
The concept of balanced objectives is central to the approach of the UK Forestry Standard, with environmental,
economic and social functions of forests and woodlands interacting in support of each other.
The policy underpins a process which is applied to all individual woodland sites on the SCC Countryside Estate.
See Figure 1.
*The Forestry Commission is the government body responsible for protecting, expanding and promoting the sustainable
management of woodland. It is the regulator of felling activity and provides grants to support sustainable woodland
management.
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2Figure 1: Surrey Wildlife Trust Woodland Management Process
Stage Process Description
1 Inventory For each woodland an inventory survey follows the methodology set out in the Forest
Mensuration handbook 2006, the Forestry Commission Field Guide for Timber
Measurement 2008.
The surveyor stratifies areas of similar species composition, age and structure together.
Areas are divided by compartments (clear discernible boundaries) and sub compartment
boundaries (species or structural change).
The inventory process should be carried out every ten years.
2 Forestry Commission Ten year management plans relating specifically to vision, objectives and operations for
Woodland woodland and forestry activity. Template provided by FC.
Management Plan
3 Felling licence, grant Management plans approved by FC are mechanism for obtaining ten year felling licences.
application Felling licences are required by law for any felling above 5 cubic metres in volume per
calendar quarter.
FC Woodland Management Plans are a pre-requisite for woodland grants administered by
FC, DEFRA and Natural England.
4 Work Programme The work programme or programme of operations is produced in spreadsheet form with
the FC management plan. Additionally the scheduled work is uploaded onto SWT’s
management planning software package (currently CMSi).
5 Site Operations Plan Before work is carried out on the ground a Site Operations Plan is produced to ensure all
relevant permissions and licences are in place, that the work planned meets health and
safety requirements and that economic efficiency is being realised.
6 Woodland Work carried out on the ground is in accordance with SWT’s policies and practice notes.
Operations These include risk assessments, method statements and the relevant British Standards.
Carried Out
7 Recording and Monitoring of volume of timber produced, income, ecological change, response of site
Monitoring visitors and site stakeholders.
8 Review New inventory and management plan prepared.
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33. Identifying the Woodland Resource
3.1 Woodland Extent
The total area of woodland is 1,250 hectares (ha). A map showing the location of woodland on the SCC
Countryside Estate can be found in Annex 2.
This figure represents the total woodland coverage, including non-productive areas within woodland blocks such
as rides (vehicle tracks), glades and car-parks. When all glades, car-parks and major rides are excluded, the total
woodland under management is approximately 1,150 ha.
The Woodland Inventory process outlined above was carried out across a total of approximately 1,030 ha*
3.2 Overarching Site Management Plans
The significant nature conservation, heritage, landscape and public access value of the SCC Countryside Estate
woodlands is documented in the current approved site management plans.
A large proportion of the Estate is designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and European Special Area
of Conservation, so these plans have also been consented by Natural England.
All of the woodlands on the Estate are subject to high levels of public access. Car parks, statutory and
permissive routes are all mapped in the site management plans.
These site plans remain valid and will be supplemented by the Forestry Commission plans being produced for
each site.
3.3 Woodland Inventory and Assessment
In 2014, woodland assessments were carried out across the SCC Countryside Estate woodlands in line with the
KPI and the agreed policy.
These assessments take the form of an inventory providing information on:
tree species present
stocking densities
basal areas, diameters and heights
standing volume (in cubic metres [m³])
Data is used to create a GIS stock map and Sub-Compartment Database. This forms the basis of management
prescriptions and associated volume estimates of wood available for sale to local markets over time.
Penfold’s Woodland Management was commissioned in February 2015 to provide a complete inventory of all
SWT managed SCC woodland sites.
*Approximately 120 ha of tree cover received no formal sampling effort being areas of young plantation, dense scrub, pure
hazel coppice, very open woodland or areas of very steep or wet ground inaccessible by vehicles, making the standing
volume either insignificant or obviously unviable for harvest respectively.
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44. The Woodland Timber Resource
4.1 Gross Standing Volume of Timber
The Woodland Inventory was completed in 2015. The resultant overall estimate of gross standing timber volume
across all 19 SCC sites is 235,270 m³.
Standing volume is defined as the volume of living standing trees above stump measured over bark to the top. It
includes all trees (regardless of diameter), tops of stems, and large branches but excludes small branches, twigs
and foliage.
4.2 Harvestable Volume of Standing Timber
Whilst standing volume represents the overall woodland resource in cubic metres, the estimate of harvestable
resource (e.g. through thinning) is very much lower. This can be seen in Figure 2 which shows sustainable
harvestable volume on a site by site basis.
The total sustainable harvestable volume for the next ten years across all 19 SCC woodlands is estimated at
33,837 m³ (14% of estimated gross standing volume).
It should be noted that:
i. Those stands below threshold basal area are excluded. Thinning of stands below threshold basal
area would mean thinning already understocked stands; apart from being economically unviable it
lowers the overall productivity of the remaining trees as a healthy stand requires the right balance
of competition with adjacent trees and space to grow into to maximise healthy growth. It also
increases the risk of damage to the remaining trees by heavy winds.
ii. Almost all of the harvestable volume over the next ten years will be obtained from thinning
overstocked woodland. To ensure maximum productivity in terms of increasing standing volume, it
is assumed all stands will be thinned to their ‘Marginal Thinning Intensity’. This ensures the
maximum possible increase in yield for the woodland by only harvesting 70% of the yield class
annually.
The actual harvestable volume will be obtained from individual FC Woodland Management Plans. These will take
into account a number of factors including:
current access for management
infrastructure required for harvesting and extraction
costs associated with both of these factors
commercial viability of the stands given the current timber and woodfuel markets
the requirement to abide by European Law regarding Protected Species in woodlands.
A sample plan can be seen in Annex 3.
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55. Forestry Commission Management Plans
5.1 Plan Objectives
Forestry Commission Woodland Management Plans are being prepared for all 19 SCC woodland sites to the
timetable defined in the agreed KPI (Annex 1).
These plans are regarded by the Forestry Commission as ‘the foundation of sustainable woodland management’.
They take a holistic approach that captures the current condition of the woodland, including features, threats,
and opportunities. They also define how the woodland will be managed to increase public benefit in relation to
economic, environmental and social values.
Each plan details the management to be undertaken over the next ten years and the initial estimated net
financial outcome. Budgets covering more than three years within the forestry sector provide a misleading
forecast as the costs and incomes of management within the sector are dynamic and thus hard to predict.
The Woodland Management Plan for each site will propose optimal intensity of management over a ten year
period.
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6This will take into consideration:
current access infrastructure,
any improvements required to facilitate harvesting and extraction to roadside (e.g. road surfacing,
creation of stacking areas)
the costs associated with these factors,
re-stocking costs,
commercial viability of the stands given the current timber and woodfuel markets,
consideration of European Law regarding Protected Species in woodlands,
other requirements of the UK Forestry Standard.
5.2 First tranche of plans
This process has been completed for 4 sites to date:
Norbury Park
Sheepleas
Wisley & Ockham Commons
Rodborough Common
Figure 3 summarises the predicted volumes arising from management over a ten year period.
Summary Felling Programme
Plan Period
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021-2026
Site Total
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
Norbury Park 680 520 475 315 390 1,450.00 3,830
Sheepleas 0 0 560 0 260 0.00 820
Rodborough
140 132 164 173 155 136.00 900
Common
Wisley & Ockham
1929 0 0 3685 2477 530.00 8,621
Commons
Total 2,749 652 1,199 4,173 3,282 2,116 14,171
Figure 3 Summary Felling Programme from Woodland Management Plan completed to date
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75.3. Projected Harvest
For the four sites completed to date, the projected harvest is 14, 171 m³ over ten years. As illustrated, the
majority of the work is scheduled to occur in the first five years of the plan. This will enable the maximum
amount of time for stands to re-grow, replacing the harvested volume. It will also ensure that benefits of
actively managed woodland (e.g. increased light reaching ground flora) are seen as soon as possible.
If the total figure of 14,171 m³ was sold ‘standing’ and harvested by woodland contractors it would earn around
£10 per m³ (based on 2015 market prices). This is the expected achievable price for wood sold standing given
the current value of firewood grade material. This provides the lowest risk, least effort return for the SCC
Countryside Estate.
Material extracted to and sold ‘at roadside’ (adjacent to hard-standing or paved tracks/roads) is currently valued
at above £35 per m³. Thus the £10 per m³ is the predicted price the Estate could expect to receive after a
contractor deducts the costs associated with felling and extracting the material to ‘roadside’. In the SCC
Countryside Estate Business Plan 2015 and when writing the FC management plans for each site it is assumed
that all wood is to be sold ‘standing’. This is because SWT currently lacks the specialist forestry machinery and
staff resources to manage woodland in any other way. However, alternative models will be evaluated, see 5.4
below.
It is important to note that any costs associated with woodland management (e.g. provision of stacking areas,
improvement of tracks, management and oversight of contracts, re-stocking) require calculation. This is covered
by the final stage in the process prior to commencement of woodland management, i.e. the creation of
individual woodland budgets to estimate the net financial outcome of the work proposed in the FC plan. Once
applied to all sites, this will provide an overall understanding of the economic sustainability of the SCC Woodland
Estate.
5.4 Alternative Models to Selling Timber ‘Standing’ and Other Income Streams
An alternative to selling the timber ‘standing’ is to invest in appropriate resources to bring forestry operations
in-house. This would require investment in specialist forestry machinery, equipment and staff resource to
realise the higher potential gross incomes from selling timber at roadside.
This alternative model of operations is to be explored in a Full Business Case in 2016. This will evaluate both
roadside sales and the potential of developing a firewood/logging business to maximise income from sustainable
woodland management on the SCC Countryside Estate.
The SCC Woodland Estate presents opportunities to generate income through activities other than timber
production alone; in fact, these activities could sit well with sustainable timber production. At present, SWT is
exploring a range of leisure opportunities that might be appropriate in areas of woodland that have
conservation and landscape sensitivities.
6. Public Consultation
Consultation and/or engagement on the content of the draft FC Management Plans will be undertaken with
stakeholders relevant to individual sites. For several of the sites, formalised Liaison Groups are in place with
representatives of local community and stakeholder groups. Local SCC members will be separately briefed and
in some instances site visits may be held to explain and discuss some of the proposals.
7. Work Programming and Site Operations Plans
Work programmes arising from the FC management plans are uploaded to SWT’s management planning
database which also enables recording and monitoring of work carried out on the ground.
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8The Site Operations Plan shows how a planned operation will help advance the Woodland Management Plan. It
ensures that work carried out is legal, safe, efficient and exactly as intended in the Woodland Management Plan.
It also ensures that all SWT departments are aware of the works and have had an opportunity to provide input.
A Site Operations Plan includes the following aspects:
Site specific interests, e.g. protected biological resources, scheduled monuments
Soils and hydrology
Harvesting details, including requirements for deadwood retention
Available access for management activities
Marketing of products
Regeneration guidance
Licences and consents
Constraints
Opportunities
Public/community awareness.
8. Certification Requirements.
Until December 2013, the management within ten SCC woodlands was Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
certified. This certification was accredited by the only UK body providing this service: the UK Woodland
Assurance Standard (UKWAS). A decision was made not to renew FSC accreditation in 2014 owing to
contemporaneous changes being enacted within the UK Forestry Commission relating to forest management.
In 2014 the Forestry Commission updated its management planning templates and processes to ensure all
management plans produced and approved by them through this process comply with the UK Forestry Standard;
the UK governments standard for sustainable forest management.
UKWAS bases its decision for certification on whether a site meets the UK Forestry Standard. Therefore, as all
SCC woodland will have FC approved management plans meeting the requirements of the UK Forestry Standard,
the only benefit of UKWAS (FSC) certification is the permission it provides to use the FSC logo on harvested, but
not processed, wood. An extra level of certification is required to use the FSC logo on processed materials, e.g.
firewood.
FSC accreditation is most suitable for wood and wood products sourced from countries and forests outside the
UK or for UK woodlands without management plans already subject to the stringent demands of the UK Forestry
Standard.
9. External Grants Available
All SCC owned SWT managed woodlands have Forestry Commission approved Woodland Planning Grants (WPG)
in place under either the only England Woodland Grants Scheme (eWGS) or the new Countryside Stewardship
grant. These grants are helping to meet the costs associated with management planning.
The eWGS was replaced in 2015 by the Countryside Stewardship scheme. Two streams of funding are available
under the new scheme: a ‘Woodland Improvement Option (WD2)’ and a range of capital items, e.g. temporary
deer fencing to protect coppice. It is prerequisite of both funding options that a Forestry Commission approved
woodland management plan is in place prior to applications for funding.
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9Applications to both funding streams are now closed until 2016. However, sites that have a FC approved
management plan in place in time for the 2016 deadline will have applications made to the Woodland
Improvement Grant (WD2) and for any relevant capital items. WD2 payments can be as high as £100 per hectare
per year which could, for larger sites, help to improve the economic viability of many SCC woodlands.
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10Annexes:
Annex 1: Key Performance Indicator: Sustainable Woodland Management Summary
KPI 3: Sustainable Woodland Management
Annual KPI targets as follows:
Yr 1 (2014/15): Undertake the following:
Sustainable Woodland Management Policy to be agreed by December 2014
100% SCC CE Woodlands to have a Woodland Assessment.
Yr 2 (2015/16):
50% of woodlands have jointly agreed management plans.
Woodland Strategy to be developed by December 2015
Yr 3 (2016/17):
75% of woodlands have jointly agreed management plans
Yr 4 (2017/18):
100% of woodlands have jointly agreed management plans
Yr 5 (2018/19):
Monitoring the woodland plans based on the objectives and deliverables set out in the management plans. A KPI
will be developed to reflect this during the period.
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11Schedule for preparation of FC Woodland Management plans
Site SCC KPI Deadline
1 Sheepleas
2 Norbury Park
3 Rodborough Common
4 Wisley and Ockham Common
March 2016
5 Bisley and West End Commons
6 Chobham Common
7 Worplesdon Group of Commons
8 Shere Woodlands
9 Staffhurst Wood
1 Chinthurst Hill
2 Shabden Park
March 2017
3 Ledgers Wood
4 Hackhurst Down
5 Milford and Coxhill Greens
1 Hill Park
2 Tilburstow Hill
March 2018
3 Brockham Limeworks
4 Burners Heath
5 Crooksbury Hill
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12Annex 2: Location of Woodland Sites on the SCC Estate
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13Annex 3: Sample Forestry Commission Management Plan: Norbury Park.
Note: this plan is a draft and has yet to be consulted upon.
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